EDITORIAL

After two years of legal challenges, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and the Illinois Department of Transportation say they will accept a federal judge's ruling that the tollway's environmental impact study for the 12.5-mile extension of Interstate 355 is inadequate. The tollway will no longer appeal the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Suzanne Conlon.

But the end of the legal chapter of the I-355 story marks the beginning of a new one. Both the tollway and the state remain steadfast in their pursuit of a highway that will cost roughly $750 million to build. And though few, if any, toll roads cover their costs in early years, the projected recovery ratio for the I-355 extension is pathetically low: just 11% of debt service, according to the authority's most current figures. By comparison, the ratio for the proposed Lake County tollway extension is 28%.

Over the next two years, the tollway will conduct a new impact study -- one that takes into account revised population and traffic projections. The process must be more than a technical exercise whose sole purpose is to justify tollway construction.

It's time to look at transportation in a different way. This is an opportunity to re-examine whether the Will County tollway extension is needed, and -- more important -- whether a road with such a low cost-recovery ratio is worth the massive expenditure. Would the state's share of I-355's cost be better spent on alternative transportation projects, such as rail lines between suburbs and the repair of existing, more trafficked roads?

In the end, the tollway extension might be justified. But rather than view the next step as an environmental impact study for the Will County tollway, it is time to determine whether it is the best move for the entire region's transportation and development infra-structure.